Northern Michigan residents are confused and in shock after a 29-year-old man killed six people, including himself, in Missaukee County on Aug. 14.
Officials said a 13-year-old girl made the call to 911 that morning after the gunman shot her family to death in their Jennings home.
Michigan State Police said the young girl was found in critical condition but has since been stabilized in the hospital.
The 13-year-old survivor was able to help police identify the suspect as Chad Hickman. Authorities later found him and a 29-year-old woman dead near Whitlock Lake. One other victim was found dead at another location.
“Everybody is just kind of in shock,” said Pete Haynes, a Jennings resident who lives just down the road from the family that was killed.
Haynes owns a chainsaw carving business and has lived in the area for more than 20 years.
He described the area as calm, saying nothing like this has ever happened before.
“It has everyone on edge,” Haynes said. “There’s a lot of grief in the area.”
The mass-killing came as a shock to many northern Michigan communities.
"Everybody, everybody knows everybody is what we say up here," said Mike Horlocker, a pastor at the First Presbyterian Church in Cadillac.
Horlocker said when a something like this happens in a rural area, it affects everybody.
“When it happens this close to our community, it just hits differently,” said Horlocker, adding that the shooting took place about 10 miles northwest of Cadillac.
“As of right now I think the community just needs time to grieve,” Horlocker said he plans to be a listening ear for those in need.
After communities have had time to mourn and after investigations have been completed, Horlocker said there should be more conversations about mental health care in northern Michigan.
“We don't have the resources up here that there are downstate,” Horlocker said. “So having those conversations around mental health and maybe other factors that played into this when the time is right is something that we need to do.”
Horlocker said he hopes northern Michigan residents and lawmakers can have conversations about preventing situations like this in the future.
